Elmsford, N.Y. (July 1, 2011)– As the U.S. Public Links Championship continues toward its conclusion on Saturday, July 2, the MGA is preparing to hold the second-oldest public links competition in golf, the 64th MGA/MetLife Public Links Championship, on Wednesday, July 6 at Hominy Hill Golf Course in Colts Neck, N.J. This prestigious 36-hole, stroke play championship brings together the Met Area’s best public links players, including Max Bischel of Neshanic Valley, who qualified for and competed in the U.S. Public Links at Bandon Dunes.

This year’s field of 52 competitors is highlighted by multiple past MGA champions. Reigning Carter Cup champion and two-time Met Junior winner David Pastore of Griff Harris Men’s Club (Greenwich, Conn.), who recently finished 8th at the Ike Championship presented by Canon Business Solutions at Somerset Hills Country Club in Bernardsville, N.J., hopes to win his third different MGA championship. Other former winners of MGA events are two-time defending MGA Mid-Amateur champion Dennis Lynch of Nassau Players, who was also a quarterfinalist at this year’s Havemeyer Invitational; 2008 Met Junior champion Anthony Aloi of MGA eClub-NJ, and 2009 MGA/MetLife Public Links champion Josh Goldstein of Grossingers.

After notching his first MGA victory in this championship at Spook Rock in 2010, Brian Komline no longer meets public links eligibility requirements and is not back to defend his title. Still, there are many other prominent Met Area players who will be looking to follow Komline’s example and make the MGA/MetLife Public Links their first MGA victory. Included in this group is Kevin McSorley of Monmouth Golfing Club, who won the 2011 NJSGA Mid-Amateur Championship in May and also played in the U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier at Canoe Brook. Another leading contender with a past history of Public Links success is Eric Lefante of the MGA eClub-NJ, winner of back-to-back (2009 and ’10) NJSGA Public Links titles.

Two players who tied for fifth at last year’s MGA/MetLife Public Links Championship, Dave Segot of Nassau Players and Bernard D’Amato of the MGA eClub-W/CT, are paired together in the first round and will look to use their experience in this event to improve on their performances. Another player who has contended in past MGA/MetLife Public Links Championships is Matthew Demeo of Hamlet Wind Watch, who finished tied for third at Spook Rock last year. Demeo won the 2009 Long Island Amateur Stroke Play Championship and was a semifinalist in the 2011 Richardson Invitational.

The MGA/MetLife Public Links Championship began as a match play event, and was first held in 1936 at Hendricks Field Golf Course in Belleville, New Jersey. The format switched to stroke play in 1961 and, after not being held between 1973 and 1983, was reinstated by the MGA in 1984. Since then, in partnership with MetLife, it has been conducted on some of the most highly acclaimed public layouts in the nation, including Bethpage Black, site of the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Opens, and nationally ranked facilities such as Richter Park in Danbury, Conn., and Spook Rock in Suffern, N.Y.

Past champions of the MGA/MetLife Public Links include three-time winner Lee Richardson (1993, ‘94 and ‘99); the late Jeff Thomas (1992 and ’98), one of the best amateur golfers to ever come out of the Met Area; and two-time Met Open champion Mark Mielke (1987). An initial entry of 264 golfers was narrowed down through five sectional qualifying rounds to a final field of 52 contestants, including 10 exempt players. The championship is open to male golfers who reside in the MGA district, have an official USGA Handicap Index of 8.0 or less and who do not hold playing privileges at a course from which the general public is excluded. The championship is conducted at 36 holes of stroke play. Updated scoring, including live scoring for the leading groups in the final round, will be available at www.mgagolf.org.